Teachers union demands apology from Chris Christie

Chris Christie said over the weekend that a national teachers union deserved a punch in the face, and now it would like an apology.

The American Federation of Teachers launched a petition demanding Christie apologize for the comments, grabbing nearly 30,000 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.

Story Continued Below

“Teachers unions aren’t some faceless entity — our unions are made up of individual teachers, who go to work every day dedicated to helping children succeed,” the petition said. “Chris Christie seems to think that leadership means threatening violence and creating a culture of intimidation. We couldn’t disagree more.”

Christie referred to the organization on CNN’s “State of the Union” after host Jake Tapper asked about a common phrase the New Jersey governor has used.

“During your first term as governor you were fond of saying you can treat bullies one of two ways, quote, you can either sidle up to them or you can punch them in the face. You said, I like to punch them in the face. At the national level, who deserves a punch in the face?” Tapper asked.

“They’re not for education for our children; they’re for greater membership, greater benefits, greater pay for their members, and they are the single most destructive force in public education in America,” Christie said about the union.

Randi Weingarten, the organization’s president, wrote a blog post on Monday addressing the comments.

“In a massive national survey we conducted with the Badass Teachers Association this spring, we saw just how real on-the-job bullying and violence are for our teachers,” Weingarten wrote. “After looking at more than 30,000 responses, we learned that nearly one in five teachers has been threatened with physical violence in a school. One in ten has been physically assaulted, and 30 percent have been bullied on the job.”

Weingarten said threatening violence went too far.

Christie responded with a petition of his own Wednesday night, demanding “the Teachers Union apologize for putting Hillary Clinton ahead of our children.” After filling out the petition it goes to a donation page.